Chapter 50: Him, No, Her
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What did death and moonlight have in common?
It was that, when the time came, they visited everyone in the world equally.
No matter how desperately one tried to avoid it, just as the shadow of death followed every person beneath heaven, the moonlight illuminating the Namgung Family naturally shone just as brightly upon places beyond it.
At the summit of Seungryong Mountain.
Of course, the moon cast its full radiance here as well.
Bathed completely in that light stood two people, their shadows stretching long behind them.
The first to speak was Pa Ga-hyeol, the man dressed in black with a languid expression. He stood with his arms crossed, staring toward the Namgung Family in the distance. Even as he spoke, his gaze never shifted.
“Transforming Shadow… Or should I call you Do Heo-ok now? Well, whatever. It doesn’t really matter. Now then, why don’t I hear your excuse?”
Standing beside him was the handsome man, Do Heo-ok.
The blue robes he wore had long since lost their original color beneath countless stains of blood. They had become so black that they were nearly indistinguishable from the black garments Pa Ga-hyeol wore. Just from his appearance alone, anyone could tell how desperately he had fought throughout the day.
Of course, almost all of that blood belonged to other people.
Like Pa Ga-hyeol, Do Heo-ok kept his eyes fixed on the Namgung Family as he answered.
“Grey Shadow, you make it sound as though I completely failed.”
“Didn’t you? They may have only been Outer Shadows rather than True Shadows, but four Shadows died without accomplishing much. And the very fact that you’re standing beside me flapping your gums means the First Scheme already failed. It only had a chance of succeeding when you could become the hero who united the Orthodox Faction. But if you’re standing here looking like some village mutt that got trampled by children while all you can do is run your mouth, then the First Scheme’s already over.”
Do Heo-ok let out a faint chuckle at Pa Ga-hyeol’s oddly relaxed tone.
“You’re only half right. The core of the First Scheme is indeed for me to become the hero of the Orthodox Faction. But just because I’m standing here looking like this doesn’t mean I can’t become that hero.”
“What are you talking about? Don’t tell me you’re planning to slaughter everyone in the Namgung Family and then declare yourself the Namgung Family’s successor?”
Pa Ga-hyeol, who had been lazily watching only the Namgung Family, finally turned his head toward Do Heo-ok.
“If that’s your plan, give it up now. Those Orthodox fools care more about family names and sect banners than anything else. They’ll acknowledge you’re a capable expert, but they won’t think you’re the successor who’ll rebuild the Namgung Family. Maybe it’d be different if you’d learned the Namgung Family’s martial arts, but as things stand, it’s impossible.”
“Is that so?”
Seeing Do Heo-ok answer as though it were nothing, Pa Ga-hyeol clicked his tongue lightly.
“Ah, enough. Stop making pathetic excuses. That’s not like you, Transforming Shadow. I hadn’t seen Mad Cloud in over ten years, but he hadn’t changed one bit. Meanwhile, you’ve become completely pitiful. Just wipe out the Namgung Family and all those hangers-on, return to headquarters, report everything honestly to Him, and wait for your punishment. That sounds far more like you… Hm? You…?”
Pa Ga-hyeol had been telling Do Heo-ok to admit his failure when he suddenly froze, his eyes widening in shock.
Crack. Crunch.
Do Heo-ok’s face and body suddenly began twisting into something grotesque.
Crack. Pop. Crunch…
A moment later.
The handsome man called Do Heo-ok had vanished, and in his place stood a peerless beauty.
Do Heo-ok or rather, the breathtakingly beautiful woman whose name was unknown smiled bashfully and flirted coyly with Pa Ga-hyeol.
“How about this? In this form, there would be no need for Lady Namgung Hye as a witness, and wouldn’t it be possible to become the Namgung Family’s successor without ever learning the Namgung Family’s martial arts?”
The transformed Do Heo-ok’s voice had become completely that of a woman as well, leaving Pa Ga-hyeol utterly dumbfounded.
“…Don’t tell me… that appearance is…!?”
“Indeed. This humble girl is Namgung Hye.”
That was right.
The shyly lowered head now belonged not to Do Heo-ok, but to Namgung Hye—the very woman who had just agreed to a Hundred-Year Marriage Pact with him.
At the sight, Pa Ga-hyeol burst into roaring laughter.
“Kuhahaha! Hahahaha! My apologies. I take back what I said just now. You’re exactly the same as ever…”
“The same?”
“You’re a lunatic. Heh.”
Normally, calling someone a lunatic was an insult.
But when those words came from Pa Ga-hyeol, no, Grey Shadow, they were the highest praise imaginable.
The True Shadows and the True Clouds had all learned martial arts directly from Martial Origin.
Each of them possessed an exceptional talent that had earned Martial Origin’s personal selection.
Martial Origin then taught every Shadow and Cloud a martial art designed to maximize that particular strength. Among them were even a few who had reached the absolute pinnacle of those specialized arts.
When Grey Shadow called someone a lunatic, it was a special title reserved for such people.
Do Heo-ok, no, Transforming Shadow understood that perfectly. From Grey Shadow’s words alone, he knew Grey Shadow had grasped exactly what his transformation into this form truly meant.
“A family destroyed to the last. And revenge against the man who, before dying, entrusted her with the complete legacy of the Thunderbolt Saber and all his internal energy. Besides, this woman originally knew nothing whatsoever about martial arts. No one would ever suspect Namgung Hye of not knowing the Namgung Family’s martial arts. No… they couldn’t. Doesn’t that leave us with more than enough to continue the First Scheme, Grey Shadow?”
The respectful feminine manner of speech had already vanished, replaced by Transforming Shadow’s original tone.
Grey Shadow erupted into another fit of booming laughter.
“Kuhahaha! Hahahaha! Good. Very good.”
As Grey Shadow laughed, Transforming Shadow laughed along.
“Hahahaha. Ah, that’s not right. From now on, I suppose I should laugh like this instead. Hohohohoho!”
The two laughed together for quite some time.
Eventually, Grey Shadow stopped laughing and slowly looked Transforming Shadow up and down with an oddly suggestive smile.
“But Namgung Hye truly is stunning. Even knowing you’re a man, my little fellow’s getting excited.”
At those words, Transforming Shadow’s feminine laughter ceased instantly, and a terrifying expression settled over her face.
A sinister, grotesque voice, one the real Namgung Hye could never have produced flowed from her lips.
“If you do not restore that filthy object to its original state immediately, it shall never stir again for the rest of your life. I will… right here and now… carve it off beautifully.”
Grey Shadow knew perfectly well that Transforming Shadow was joking.
Still, he couldn’t exactly keep lusting after a man who merely wore a woman’s body.
Swallowing dryly, he had no choice but to calm the third leg hanging between his own.
It was then.
Kyaaak.
Far across the night sky, a hawk appeared and rapidly flew toward them.
In the blink of an eye, it reached the summit of Seungryong Mountain, circled briefly above their heads, then descended sharply toward them.
Judging by its increasingly visible form, it was not the same breed as the Haedongcheong Hawk Grey Shadow had released to intercept messenger pigeons.
“A Ring Hawk?”
It was indeed a Ring Hawk, a species raised by a certain organization, famous throughout the Murim, to exchange information regularly in place of messenger pigeons.
Its master was someone both Grey Shadow and Transforming Shadow knew well.
He was…
Swimming Shadow.
The final Shadow absent from this place among the seven Shadows mobilized for the First Scheme.
The arrival of the Ring Hawk meant the time to begin had come.
Grey Shadow recovered his usual expression of utter listlessness and slowly raised one arm horizontally.
Fwoosh. Flap, flap.
The Ring Hawk gradually slowed its glide before landing upon his arm.
Tied to its leg was a small, narrow wooden case.
Pop.
Grey Shadow untied the case from the hawk’s leg and immediately opened the lid.
As the compressed air escaped, it produced a crisp sound.
Inside was a single sheet of paper.
Written upon it was only one short character.
[Float.]
The instant Grey Shadow finished reading it, he summoned the Three Sacred Lights and burned the paper to ashes.
Then, in his usual lazy voice, he muttered,
“It’s set sail.”
The words lacked any context, yet Transforming Shadow understood immediately.
“Already? Well… perhaps I can’t really call it early. The original plan to begin on the night of the full moon had already gone awry. So there’d be nothing strange about the ship departing now.”
Riiip.
Grey Shadow suddenly tore off part of his trouser hem and began poking holes through it with his finger.
Transforming Shadow knew exactly what he was doing and silently watched.
Moments later, the single character ‘Begin’ had been perforated into the cloth.
Grey Shadow rolled it up, placed it inside the wooden case, tied it back onto the Ring Hawk’s leg, and immediately sent it soaring into the sky once more.
Watching the hawk disappear into the distance, Grey Shadow grinned.
The bloody feast that was about to unfold.
The anticipation of it made his heart race.
“Looks like I’ll have to move sooner than planned as well. What about you, Transforming Shadow? Staying here to join me?”
Transforming Shadow immediately shook his head.
“No. I’m following that hawk.”
“To Swimming Shadow? Why? This side looks much more entertaining.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about. That side will be far more interesting. I guarantee it.”
“How?”
“Oh? Because of Tang Wu? Come on. One man isn’t enough to compare with the weight of the Namgung Family.”
“Well… perhaps not one. But two changes everything.”
“Two? Ah! That light from last night?”
Grey Shadow immediately realized who Transforming Shadow meant.
“Yes. That light. Since that person isn’t from the Namgung Family, he’ll definitely head there. I didn’t witness the light myself, but from what I’ve heard, his cultivation seemed to be on the level of the Two Gods and Three Monsters. Perhaps… he really is one of the Two Gods and Three Monsters. Or maybe one of their successors. If not, then at the very least some hidden recluse.”
“Ah, damn it. Hearing you say that makes me want to go there instead.”
“Just finish things here. Leave everything over there to Swimming Shadow and me.”
“But if that incredible flash from yesterday really was produced entirely through cultivation alone… then even if you and Swimming Shadow attack together, you won’t be able to defeat him.”
“Probably not. But… wouldn’t that make it all the more entertaining? Haha… hoho.”
Ending with laughter that was impossible to tell whether it belonged to a man or a woman, Transforming Shadow bent her knees.
She was preparing to leap away.
The direction she faced was south, toward Lake Chaohu, where the Ring Hawk had just disappeared.
Just as she straightened her legs to jump,
“Oh, right, Transforming Shadow. Be careful on your way. I’ve got my boys spread all over this area. You know how rough our Heavenly Demon Castle people can be.”
Transforming Shadow answered only with a faint chuckle.
At the same moment, her beautiful face and slender figure began twisting once more.
Crack. Snap. Crunch. Crack…
Before long, Namgung Hye disappeared.
Standing in her place was a man with an expression every bit as weary and indifferent as Grey Shadow’s, his knees bent deeply.
“How’s this? Hehehe.”
His face, his speech, even his laughter.
Everything was an uncanny mirror of Grey Shadow himself.
Faced with Transforming Shadow’s new appearance, Grey Shadow could only let out a helpless laugh.
Pat!
Transforming Shadow finally departed from the summit of Seungryong Mountain.
Watching him go, Grey Shadow shook his head and muttered to himself.
“Mad Cloud’s as unlucky as ever, and this bastard’s just as bad. Though in a completely different way. Still… if you’re going to turn into me, shouldn’t you change into my clothes too? You could’ve changed here before transforming. Kuhuhu.”
With that lewd remark, Grey Shadow also disappeared from the mountaintop.
The ship had set sail.
And Martial Origin’s Great Plan, which had briefly faltered, began moving forward once more.
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